The F-word discussion

December's non-fiction selection, Gloria Steinem's Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem is about "the notion that gaining self-esteem is the greatest revolution in which we can engage."

It surprises me that I had never heard of this before! Has anyone else run across this already? A lot of people apparently love it! Who is hoping/planning on reading this one this month?

I won't be reading it this month as I read it a few months ago, but I'm looking forward to discussing it (the parts that I remember anyway). I found it pretty interesting :)

Alexa wrote: "It surprises me that I had never heard of this before! Has anyone else run across this already? A lot of people apparently love it! Who is hoping/planning on reading this one this month?"

I'm surprised too that I hadn't heard of it. I hadn't even heard of Gloria Steinem. She was a big name in feminism in the 70s, it seems. I have just finished reading this. There's an enormous amount of information, plenty of food for thought. It's brilliant, but a hefty read.

I had to put it on hold at the library and it's currently "in transit," which means I should have it in my hands in a day or two.

That's so funny that it's not more widely known! I've seen this book errrrrywhere and have had a copy sitting on my shelf for ages, but never really had the motivation to sit down and read.
Gloria is def an icon of the [white American middle class] feminist movement, she created Ms. Magazine! She's an interesting woman, I hope the book is interesting also :)

Got it!

There's a brilliant conversation between Steinem and bell hooks that was posted online recently as part of bell hooks' residency series at the New School. Worth watching.

Sounds intriguing! Do you have a link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkzOF...

Check out all the other hooks conversations on the side! Feminist heaven, lol.

I have to admit I was somewhat prepared to not be terribly impressed by this - I was a bit worried it would be popular psychological help-yourself stuff - I should have had more faith in Gloria Steinem! From the very beginning she disavows the typical self-help books - thank goodness!

I loved this line from page 4: "women's personal stories, which are, like all personal accounts of any group that has been marginalized, our best textbooks: the only way to make our experience central." It really got me thinking about the fact that the stories of marginalized peoples are the ones we don't usually read. I tend to be logically inclined, thinking anecdotal accounts are less valuable than statistics, but clearly this is not always true!

Yes, both of those points really struck me too. That in 1968 a hotel could claim that unescorted women were not allowed?! That's just horrifying, and yet why am I so surprised?

And it was so sad that when she's told she's considered one of the most confident women, her reaction was that it showed just how much trouble women were in!

Thanks for that link, Michelle! That's a great read!

Michelle wrote: "I like the book so far and she clearly did alot of research, but the first few chapters feel a bit disjointed to me. I will see how it all pulls together as I read along. It seems to be partly a ..."

I recall that she did say in the introduction that she wrote this to work as a series of essays - which can certainly lead to that disjointed feeling sometimes.

I haven't gotten there yet. Is she citing research or stating her opinion? I've seen many women become more and less interested in romance books, depending on various stages and moods - so there's clearly more going on than level of patriarchy - but that's an intriguing thought.

Michelle wrote: "The more patriarchial and gender polarized a culture is, the more addicted to romance..."

So, women are encouraged to drop so-called 'masculine' traits, and men encouraged to drop so-called 'feminine' traits. By fulfilling gender roles we lose half of ourselves. We then look for that lost half in the opposite sex. To stop being addicted to romance, we need to find the lost half of ourselves.

Interesting idea, and probably some truth in it. But not sure how that works out for gay people. I'm quite 'feminine' and am attracted to 'feminine' women.

Gloria Steinem is wonderfully inclusive of gay people in her writing, however.

Michelle, I like how you pointed out that this book is partly a memoir. I hadn't noticed that, but you're right. The personal stories do add up to building a good picture of Ms Steinem's life.

I haven't been as diligent with this as I should have. I kept putting it down (holiday craziness) and then when I had a few minutes to read I kept picking up something more "fun." But then every time I do pick this up I keep seeing again that it is actually quite a fascinating book.

Brilliant but H-E-F-T-Y, indeed!

That's a great question Michelle! We did have a poll on just this topic about a year ago - and two books had a slight lead in the voting. It's always tricky to get people talking - I have the impression that a lot more people read the book than actually discuss it - perhaps they're all shy? Perhaps the discussion was so comprehensive they had nothing to add? (Ha!) Perhaps we just aren't interesting enough? (Ha Ha!) I suspect that by having two books to read we're doubling our chances of getting more participants - but I have no evidence that I'm correct. And thank you so much for all your insightful comments!!!